From a fish shack to bespoke nougat: Natasha Sideris reveals what's next for her Tashas empire


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For most people, being at the helm of 25 restaurants across two countries, and successfully launching another outpost in the midst of a pandemic, would leave you with some form of contentment.

Not for Natasha Sideris.

In fact, the founder and namesake of the popular Tashas cafes, five of which now exist in the UAE, is already plotting her next steps.

Not only does she want to recreate the fish restaurant her late father began in Johannesburg here in Dubai, she also hopes to open a steak and burger concept, and start a bespoke nougat and espresso bar.

At this point I don't really care about making money ... I just want to trade, pay my staff and by December, take everyone's salary's back up. I don't care about anything else

"I'm at a point in my career where I can get a lot more creative and I do stuff I've always wanted to do, and start other brands," Sideris tells The National.

"It's been a fascinating journey."

The fifth outpost of Sideris's popular Tashas cafe opened this week in the Galleria Al Barsha, after being delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. As well as three other Tashas cafes in Dubai and one in Abu Dhabi, the Tashas Group also has the Flamingo Room, Avli and Galaxy Bar under its belt, as well as 17 Tashas cafes in South Africa. That's a lot of restaurants to shield from an outbreak that has hit the hospitality industry hard, resulting in mass lay-offs and permanent closures across the world.

But Sideris is pragmatic about her position.

Natasha Sideris, owner and namesake of Tashas cafes. Pawan Singh / The National
Natasha Sideris, owner and namesake of Tashas cafes. Pawan Singh / The National

"I wouldn't normally advise people to open a business during a pandemic but this particular restaurant was in planning for eight months. We had employed all the staff and it was ready. I had two choices: either I would have to retrench all 30 or 40 people I employ here, or open and try and bring in some turnover to at least cover their salaries," she says.

"At this point, I don't really care about making money – any restaurant that thinks it's going to be making money during the virus is being overly ambitious. I just want to trade, pay my staff and by December, take everyone's salary's back up. I don't care about anything else."

Sideris admits the last few months have been "tough". She's had to make staff redundant (fewer than 50 in total across the UAE businesses) and everyone has had to take pay cuts, including herself. Naturally, she's worried about her restaurants across the board, but especially those in South Africa.

Sideris first got involved in the restaurateur business alongside her father in Johannesburg, when she was studying psychology in university.

"I used to look at him and think 'he's so tired'. He'd come home with blisters on his feet, he's exhausted, and I'm never going to do this."

But things changed when she began helping her father at his restaurant, the Fishmonger. "I got hooked," she admits.

The rest, as they say, is history. Sideris, with no formal chef training, set about opening restaurants bearing her nickname.

With the help of her brother, she opened 17 restaurants across South Africa, before setting her sights on going international. Offers were on the table in Australia, the US and the UK, but it was Dubai that she finally seized upon. In 2014, the very first Tashas opened in The Galleria Al Wasl.

Many of Sideris's staff came with her from the South African stores. Pawan Singh / The National
Many of Sideris's staff came with her from the South African stores. Pawan Singh / The National

After three years of splitting her time between South Africa and Dubai, Sideris moved here permanently in 2018, leaving her brother to oversee the South African outlets.

While Dubai is renowned for its high number of restaurants, Tashas seems to have maintained its loyal fan base throughout the years. The cafe's popularity paved the way for Flamingo Room, which was born out of Sideris's desire to "show the world and to prove to myself we could do a more sophisticated kind of dining experience". Avli by Tashas followed thanks to an eagerness from half-Greek Sideris to show her "Athenian spirit".

It was already difficult to make money before Covid. What coronavirus has done is taken a magnifying glass and magnify  those issues

Sideris believes that Tashas' "classic, old school" mentality, which doesn't pander to trends or fads, is one of the reasons the cafe has garnered such a cult following.

"I'm a stickler for old-school restaurateuring," she says. "I also love my restaurants. You'll find me at Avli every Thursday night, I never miss it. And most Fridays I'll have lunch or dinner at Flamingo Room."

The new Al Barsha branch of Tashas is the most health-focused Sideris has opened, and will, come cooler climes, feature a walking club.

She chose a location at the back of the mall, with less visibility from the street, because it looks out on to the back of a park to allow customers to "connect with nature".

Of course, the pandemic has resulted in a few operational adjustments. Her menu of 59 dishes has been reduced to 38 to cut down on waste. She's been vocal in her criticism of delivery aggregators and their commissions, so you can now order direct on Tashas' Instagram page.

In the four days that the Al Barsha outlet has been open, they've been serving roughly 40 to 50 people per day. Pre-pandemic, a Tashas cafe would serve about 400 people, and at the larger Abu Dhabi outlet, up to 800.

But Sideris is quick to point out that this is "not so bad", and many are faring worse.

"It was already difficult to make money before Covid. What the coronavirus has done is taken a magnifying glass to those issues. But this can also change some of the things that were broken."  

Sideris is optimistic that by the end of the first quarter in 2021, around 80 per cent of the UAE food scene could be back up and running.

Indeed, she is planning to press ahead with three new dining concepts. Two will be a tribute to her father, Harry. The first, a take on her father's Fishmonger, will serve a simple and "accessible" menu of seafood, chips, rice, boiled potatoes and salad. She plans to name it Harry's Fishmonger.

Next will come a steakhouse and burger concept because, before fish, Harry Sideris helped found two "of the most famous steakhouses in South Africa".

Lastly, she'll be going into bespoke nougat, as she's bought into South African nougat company 1701, and wants to launch espresso bars where you can watch the sweets being made.

But as much as she sees her future here in Dubai, Sideris is quick to point out that she will look after her "foundations" in South Africa, and ensure her restaurants there survive the pandemic, too. She helped found non-profit The Restaurant Collective there, and has spent weeks lobbying the government to allow the restaurant industry to reopen.

"What I want to do with that platform is to upskill the entire South African food industry," she says. "It's my gift to Mother Africa to say hospitality is ingrained in us. We've got so much to offer."

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The specs

Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbo

Power: 194hp at 5,600rpm

Torque: 275Nm from 2,000-4,000rpm

Transmission: 6-speed auto

Price: from Dh155,000

On sale: now

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The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Power: 510hp at 9,000rpm
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
Price: From Dh801,800
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MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League semi-final, first leg
Bayern Munich v Real Madrid

When: April 25, 10.45pm kick-off (UAE)
Where: Allianz Arena, Munich
Live: BeIN Sports HD
Second leg: May 1, Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

Sarfira

Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad

Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal 

Rating: 2/5

THE SIXTH SENSE

Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Rating: 5/5

ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

Another way to earn air miles

In addition to the Emirates and Etihad programmes, there is the Air Miles Middle East card, which offers members the ability to choose any airline, has no black-out dates and no restrictions on seat availability. Air Miles is linked up to HSBC credit cards and can also be earned through retail partners such as Spinneys, Sharaf DG and The Toy Store.

An Emirates Dubai-London round-trip ticket costs 180,000 miles on the Air Miles website. But customers earn these ‘miles’ at a much faster rate than airline miles. Adidas offers two air miles per Dh1 spent. Air Miles has partnerships with websites as well, so booking.com and agoda.com offer three miles per Dh1 spent.

“If you use your HSBC credit card when shopping at our partners, you are able to earn Air Miles twice which will mean you can get that flight reward faster and for less spend,” says Paul Lacey, the managing director for Europe, Middle East and India for Aimia, which owns and operates Air Miles Middle East.

Sukuk explained

Sukuk are Sharia-compliant financial certificates issued by governments, corporates and other entities. While as an asset class they resemble conventional bonds, there are some significant differences. As interest is prohibited under Sharia, sukuk must contain an underlying transaction, for example a leaseback agreement, and the income that is paid to investors is generated by the underlying asset. Investors must also be prepared to share in both the profits and losses of an enterprise. Nevertheless, sukuk are similar to conventional bonds in that they provide regular payments, and are considered less risky than equities. Most investors would not buy sukuk directly due to high minimum subscriptions, but invest via funds.

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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
THE SPECS

Engine: 6.0-litre, twin-turbocharged W12

Transmission: eight-speed automatic

Power: 626bhp

Torque: 900Nm

Price: Dh1,050,000

On sale: now

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The Greatest Royal Rumble card

50-man Royal Rumble - names entered so far include Braun Strowman, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, Big Show, Kane, Chris Jericho, The New Day and Elias

Universal Championship Brock Lesnar (champion) v Roman Reigns in a steel cage match

WWE World Heavyweight ChampionshipAJ Styles (champion) v Shinsuke Nakamura

Intercontinental Championship Seth Rollins (champion) v The Miz v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe

United States Championship Jeff Hardy (champion) v Jinder Mahal

SmackDown Tag Team Championship The Bludgeon Brothers (champions) v The Usos

Raw Tag Team Championship (currently vacant) Cesaro and Sheamus v Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt

Casket match The Undertaker v Rusev

Singles match John Cena v Triple H

Cruiserweight Championship Cedric Alexander v Kalisto

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

MATCH INFO

Tottenham 4 (Alli 51', Kane 50', 77'. Aurier 73')

Olympiakos 2 (El-Arabi 06', Semedo')

The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont

Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950

Engine 3.6-litre V6

Gearbox Eight-speed automatic

Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm

Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm

Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km